Sunday, January 10, 2010

I Can Have My Cake ... and Eat It Too

I'm not allowed to have any sugar until after January 26th, when my commitment to the Adventure Cleanse Tune-Up is over. But that isn't stopping me from enjoying cake, cookies, and other sweets.

How is that, you ask? With delicious (and easy-peasy) recipes from Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw for Dessert, my sweet tooth has stayed satisfied throughout the cleanse thus far. Using dates and agave in place of sugar, I've created several desserts from this book. Dates are high on the glycemic index, so they're not recommended for everyone on the ACT, but I figure raw desserts made with dates are the only way to make my sweet tooth truly happy. So I'm eating dates and not worrying about the glycemic index.

Cornbleet's book (published by the Farm's Book Publishing Company) is filled with cakes, pies, tarts, and quite a few lick-smackin' recipes for raw ice cream! Of course, it's way too cold for ice cream right now. But it's never too cold for Ginger Spice Cookies:

Aren't these precious? These bite-sized treats are made from dates, almonds, walnuts, cinnamon, and ground ginger. Though Cornbleet's recipes actually calls for a touch of raw sugar, I subbed agave since I'm avoiding cane sugar in all its forms.

I brought this Raw German Chocolate Cake to a game night at my friend Vaughan's house this weekend:

The rich, fudgey, dark chocolate cake was made with a base of walnuts, dates, and cocoa powder (I didn't have any raw cacao, so I used regular cocoa). The topping is a mixture of dates, coconut, and pecans. It was a huge hit at the party with all my non-cleansing (but mostly vegan) friends.

It's just orange and grapefruit segments mixed with a little agave and orange zest. No frills, but so tasty. Rather you're raw, sometimes raw, or not-in-a-million-years raw, Cornbleet's book offers tons of ideas for healthy desserts.

By the way, Nora of Pride & Vegudice also just reviewed this book. Head over to her blog to see gorgeous photos of raw truffles, crumbles, and an out-of-this-world raw spice cake!

Coffee Update: Over the weekend, I've felt a little better with the lack of coffee. I'm still bitter about not having it, but I haven't had any breakdowns. And I bought some Mocha Yerba Mate. It's much, much tastier than tea. Thanks for all your supportive comments!